I like watching baseball,
especially when the Cubs are playing. But I hate the MLB replay rules,
especially this year after changes to other rules increased the number of
challengeable calls.

In the “good old days,” when a
manager challenged a call, the action paused. The field umpires would get
together to decide whether to overturn it. Because they had to rely on what
they saw at the time, they made mistakes, even after a challenge. But it
probably came out even in the long run, with each team benefiting from an
approximately equal number of wrong calls.

Now whenever a play is close,
the action doesn’t just pause, it stops. First, the manager of the team that
didn’t get the call takes his time deciding whether to challenge the play.
Then, if he does, delay is extended while people who aren’t even in the park
watch replays from different camera angles. Yes, they get it right most of the
time, but it isn’t worth the wait.

Unfortunately, many novels are
like that. The author is so interested in getting his or her message across
that the action stops. Christians are among the worst offenders, here. Although
there are exceptions, I rarely buy fiction from Christian publishers anymore because
the message tends to overwhelm the story.

For a novelist, the only
effective way to convey a message is to weave it seamlessly into the story. I’d
rather interpret the clues myself than have the author stop the action to
explain them. Not only is explaining the lazy writer’s way out, but it gives me
a great place to put the book down.

If the baseball game is close
and exciting, I may wait out the replay. If a book has a fascinating story
line, I may skip over the lecture and continue reading.

But I’m more likely to keep
reading if the author has already skipped the lecture.